So about 3 weeks ago, my doctor had me start using benzoyl peroxide cream and tretinoin cream. In the morning, I was told to wash my face with cetaphil cleanser and apply benzoyl peroxide to my entire face. In the night, I was told to use a neutrogena cleanser and apply tretinoin to my face. My forehead and nose are normally very oily while my cheeks and my chin are normal. Most of my acne is on my forehead (not too severe) while my cheeks are mild and my jawline is moderate.

I followed the regimen exactly for about the first 2 and a half weeks (also adding in an extra cleansing in the afternoon to prevent oil build up). I was seeing improvement but it stung when I washed my face in the night. Eventually, my skin adjusted to the chemicals so it no longer hurt but I was left with very dry skin that was very noticable. I was annoyed how my friends kept telling me that my face looked ashy and that i needed to apply moisturizer (which I was) and i figured that the benzoyl peroxide was causing my cheeks to be so dry so I started to only use it on my forehead, however I continued to use the tretinoin everywhere. That was a couple days ago. At the moment, my cheeks are dry all over and my forehead is still oily.

I need some suggestions. Should I continue to follow the regimen exactly? If I should change it, what adjustments should I make to help?

I have crazy dry skin on my cheeks and jaw area, and have been using Retin-A which makes it worse. What has helped me is using CeraVe Gentle Cleanser and Moisturizing cream. I've used to use Cetaphil, but found that slightly too harsh for my skin. And Neutrogena was REALLY harsh. I would speak to you doctor about if you should change up your regimen (or maybe use it every other day?), but check out the CeraVe products. Good luck to you!